Anthony Gordon's Explosive Pay Rise: How His Soaring Salary Stacks Up Against Barcelona Stars

As Anthony Gordon was keen to emphasize during his long-awaited Barcelona presentation, he had finalized everything with the club two days prior. The swiftness of those contract talks is partly explained by reports that the England international has "doubled" the wages he was receiving at Newcastle United.

Gordon spent the closing month of the season warming the bench as speculation about his future continued to mount. Many anticipated the lightning-quick forward would head to Bayern Munich, but Barcelona outmaneuvered their German rivals with an offer Gordon simply couldn't turn down, and Newcastle were persuaded to let him go.

The most contentious aspect of negotiations is believed to have centered on the payment structure of the $93.1 million (£69.3 million, €80 million) transfer fee agreed between the two clubs, per The Guardian. The same report suggests there was no such holdup in discussions over Gordon's new wages, which will reportedly sit at around $403,000 per week.

That figure is believed to be double what Gordon was earning at Newcastle and immediately places him among Barcelona's highest-paid players.

How Anthony Gordon Compares to Barcelona's Top Earners

Reported figures have been converted to dollars at the time of publication.

Barcelona's capacity to bring in Gordon has been greatly aided by the departure of the club's highest earner, Robert Lewandowski. The departing Polish striker was pulling in an annual salary of around $41.9 million in the final year of his Barcelona deal, per The Athletic. With him gone, Lamine Yamal is now considered the club's best-compensated player following his contract extension through 2031 last summer.

Having previously earned roughly $3.5 million per year, Yamal now commands ten times that amount from his base salary alone. When bonuses and incentives are factored in, the teenage star could pocket as much as $46.6 million annually before taxes.

Nobody else in the squad comes close to Yamal's pay grade, though Gordon has positioned himself firmly in the second tier of earners. The new signing is believed to take home slightly less than Raphinha, who earns around $21 million a year according to UOL, while surpassing Marc-André ter Stegen.

Barcelona have long attempted to offload Ter Stegen's hefty contract, with the threat of legal action looming during a bitter standoff last summer over a dispute regarding the duration of the German goalkeeper's injury absence.

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While Ter Stegen stood his ground—accepting a loan move to Girona where he promptly suffered another injury—Frenkie de Jong agreed to a revised wage structure after lengthy negotiations with Barcelona. Having signed his original contract in the pre-COVID-19 era of lavish spending, De Jong was repeatedly and unfairly cast as a villain by the global press for continuing to collect the money he was legally owed while Barcelona navigated a financial crisis.

The outspoken Dutchman was so angered by coverage of his earnings that he went on the offensive. "If the BBC says Frenkie earns 40 million a year, it's their responsibility to ensure the information they publish is accurate," De Jong fumed last October. "And when something isn't true, as was the case here, I feel I have the right to criticize them: they published something false."

De Jong has since put pen to paper on a new contract that puts him on the same level as the likes of Pedri, Dani Olmo and Ronald Araújo, according to local media reports.

How Can Barcelona Afford Gordon Salary If Rashford Deal Was Too Expensive?

One of the primary reasons cited for Barcelona pursuing Gordon rather than paying a fraction of the fee for Marcus Rashford is that the former Everton winger would demand a considerably lower salary than his fellow Englishman.

A weekly wage of $403,000 is no small sum, yet The Guardian maintains that Rashford's proposed salary would still be "significantly higher."

There is also the matter of what Barcelona would receive in return for that salary. Rashford's attacking output during his loan spell at Camp Nou was genuinely impressive: the 28-year-old registered a goal or assist every 105 minutes across all competitions, a rate only Yamal and Fermín López could surpass.

However, it was what Rashford did without the ball—or failed to do—that stopped him from displacing Raphinha as the first-choice wide option. Hansi Flick frequently praised Rashford's commitment, but it became evident that relentless pressing is simply not among his strengths. The same cannot be said of Gordon, who covers ground just as effectively when defending as when attacking.

Unsurprisingly, he was equally quick to put his signature on his Barcelona contract.